Why Elissa Slotkin took heat from angry Democrats during her campaign

Dave Moore, a retired U.S. Army colonel and former Apache pilot, and his wife Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat who just won Congressional District 8 after a brutal fight. The couple played with their dogs Dakota and Dixie on the Slotkin family farm in Holly, Mich., the day after the Nov. 6, 2018 election.(Photo: Slotkin campaign)

Elissa Slotkin met her husband on her third tour in Iraq at the palace of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

Slotkin, a top Pentagon adviser on Iraq at the time, and U.S. Army Col. Dave Moore were part of a U.S. team sent to negotiate with the Iraqis in 2009.

“Our entire life has been connected to serving our country and serving in combat zones,” she said after a morning spent on her family farm in Holly.

A few hours earlier, she had unseated a congressman who admitted publicly he was a bit stunned. "This didn't work out the way I anticipated," Rep. Mike Bishop told reporters after learning the election results.

But people who know Slotkin weren’t surprised at all.

“Don’t get in a knife fight with Elissa,” said her brother Keith Slotkin, a scientist based in St. Louis who said anyone who knows his sister expects her to prevail, regardless of the odds.

Elissa Slotkin defeated incumbent Bishop, a lawyer by training and former Republican state senator from Rochester, in what has been called the most expensive political battle in Michigan history.

Raised on a Michigan farm, she brings to life one example of the changing face of American politics. She is among 96 women officially declared winners of U.S. House seats on a night Democrats seized control, up from 84 female members now. Slotkin is joined by other Democratic women with national security experience, including a former Navy pilot in New Jersey, an Air Force veteran in Pennsylvania, and a retired Navy commander and former CIA officer, both from Virginia.

Her own credentials are more impressive than the sound bites of campaigning. She was a CIA team leader in Iraq in 2006-07 who advanced to the White House as National Security Council director for Iraq, then to the State Department and Pentagon, where she was acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs from January 2015-January 2017.

Her LinkedIn profile says she "played a leading role designing the counter-ISIS strategy," helped oversee $40 billion a year in arms sales and "chaired the U.S.-Russia channel on flight safety over Syria, the senior-most channel between the two governments."

Michigan and its jagged-edged Congressional District 8, which stretches across the middle of the state and includes Rochester Hills to the east and parts of Lansing on the west, had been watched by national strategists for months. Both political parties spent big money. An estimated $26 million poured in, according to campaign filings. Candidates raised about half and outside groups spent heavily on an endless loop of vicious TV ads.

They included grainy black-and-white images in slow motion with narration that said she was an unqualified outsider who made bad deals and funded terrorism. They said she was part of a liberal "mob." Opponents cut a quick ad after a live debate to depict her saying she put political party before the country, despite correcting herself in real time. They accused her of wanting to bankrupt Medicare.

She had powerful foes, yes, and supporters, too: Billionaire Michael Bloomberg was listed among Slotkin's supporters, along with military officials who worked with her.

Slotkin, 42, wondered aloud how many military spouses serve in Congress.

“Our family lives military and veterans issues in a way few others do,” she told the Free Press. “My stepdaughter, who is based in Alaska right now, is a brand-new lieutenant in the Army. She could be deployed in 18 months. And another stepdaughter is a physician for the VA.”

Slotkin continued, “I bring a voice to veterans’ issues in a real clear way. On military insurance, I know in extreme detail both the positives and negatives with military health care. I know from personal experience the issues veterans are facing, issues around PTSD, making sure our military officers and enlisted can transition to new careers. I hope I have unique insight.”

She believes America must do more to help veterans coming home connect with businesses and job training programs.

"And we need to ensure high quality and timely health care — that, specifically, means filling the large (staffing) vacancies in southeast and mid-Michigan” at VA medical centers, she said.

Her husband's help

In public and private, she recognizes her husband for his ongoing support, which included walking Brighton and East Lansing precincts with her in the rain on the last day of the campaign.

Moore, a retired Army colonel who flew Apache helicopter missions, now works as a counterterrorism planner.

“Dave is a big part of the campaign, and I think that’s something that helped us attract supporters from across the political spectrum,” she said. “We have served both parties. I worked for 18 months in the Bush White House. I briefed President Bush every week and traveled with him. I saw him leave on a Friday and Barack Obama arrived on a Tuesday. I performed the same job proudly.”

She emphasized, “People are looking for leaders who know what it means to negotiate in good faith, work across the aisle, get something done and who don’t believe compromise is a dirty word. My entire professional experience and Dave’s entire professional experience is working for our country, not a party.”

Deer Creek Athletic Club had its walls papered with campaign signs prior to an Election night party Nov. 6, 2018.(Photo: C. John Anter)

During Slotkin's victory speech just before 1 a.m. Wednesday and again later, she said her politics serve all residents who live in the predominantly Republican district.

“We’re bringing back the term of a Midwestern Democrat,” she said. “That is, practical, reasonable and willing to work across the aisle to get things done. Independently minded and laser focused on this simple idea: All hardworking American families deserve a fair shake. No more and no less. People want rational, positive, empathetic leadership."

The Democrat has no elective experience. Yet she expresses opinions that reflect intimate familiarity with how the government operates. And this is what appears to have resonated with a bipartisan crowd at the Deer Lake Athletic Club in Clarkston, when she fulfilled requests for selfies that lasted until nearly 2 a.m. Wednesday.

While Slotkin raised and spent the most money, she declined to accept corporate money from political action committees. And she won't in the future, either.

“I got a lot of angry phone calls from a lot of senior Democrats when I made that announcement,” she said. “That was not a positive series of calls. But I did it out of principle. I believe money is poisoning Washington. It undercuts progress. If politicians are bought and sold by big drug companies, how can you have a real conversation about lowering the cost of prescription drugs? It will make it harder for me, but that’s just fine.”

Democrats moving to Washington in January 2019 bring new perspective, she said.

“I understand certain parts of the (Democratic) Party are leaning further and further left but also further toward pragmatic, hardworking, getting things done, American dream party. If our party is not doing something for people’s pocketbooks or kids, we don’t deserve their vote,” she said. “I’m looking forward to … shaking things up for the party.”

While Slotkin said she means no disrespect, she holds firm her opposition to the re-election of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco because it’s "time for a new generation."

Morning with dogs

Slotkin and Moore spent the morning after Election Day at the family farm in Holly with their dogs, Dakota and Dixie.

“We’re not a political family," Slotkin said. "My poor dad was threatening to shoot out the TV. He couldn’t watch his shows without being interrupted by ads attacking his child.”

She continued, “We’re in the meat business. Generations of Slotkins did meat" as the founders of Hygrade Foods who introduced the famous Ballpark Frank at old Tiger Stadium. "Meat is not very political. This is new.”

She tells of having a Republican father and a Democratic mother.

“We never used to fight about politics,” Slotkin said. “In Michigan, we fought about sports, Michigan versus Michigan State or Michigan versus Ohio State. Those are the things that got people agitated. We were always a swing state of Democrats and Republicans. This vitriol has been imported from Washington.”

Now, supporters tell stories of stressful Thanksgivings divided by politics and play dates that are ruined by parents who argue.

“That’s not how we were here and not how we want to be,” Slotkin said. “Adults can disagree and still respect each other.”

Deer hunter alert

For now, Elissa Slotkin is planning regular town halls to better understand the views of her constituents as she advocates on their behalf.

Slotkin immediately scheduled a three-stop public listening tour of the district in North Oakland, Livingston and Ingham counties on Thursday. She thanked supporters and discussed priorities. About 50 people met her at Recipes Rochester at noon. About 40 people arrived at the Great Harvest Bread Co. in Brighton at 2 p.m., which ran long as she raced to Strange Matter Coffee in Lansing for a 4 p.m. stop. Students from Michigan State University played a key role in the campaign.

As someone who has always made decisions shaped by data, Slotkin said she feels the need to learn more detail about what information policy makers in Washington are being provided, and how that information is being analyzed, in order to offer effective alternative solutions.

Her top priorities: Protecting health care coverage for pre-existing conditions, clean water, tariffs and careful oversight of how the U.S. military is deployed.

“Flint was an apocalyptic poisoning of an American city but not the only story, unfortunately,” she said. “As a CIA analyst, I am trained to look at patterns and data. Data tells us there’s a problem with our drinking water — with lead, PFAS, toxic chemicals and other things.

"In my district, in the Huron River, we can no longer eat the fish. We cannot eat the deer that forage around the Huron River. We have a problem. We need to accept that problem. We need a once-in-a-generation investment in our water infrastructure. Our state has the greatest concentration of fresh water and we cannot cannot provide clean drinking water to our citizens."

She sees tariffs as another issue creating concern among constituents.

“Everyone understands the instinct of President Trump or anyone to want to push back against China,” she said. “Unfortunately, the tariffs are making the cure worse than the disease. People are starting to feel the impact. We lease our land to a soybean farmer and he’s living with a whole new level of instability. The price of soybeans is dropping and markets are closing off to him.”

Caravan patrol

Her emotion rises when she talks about sending U.S. military forces into combat zones, saying that Congress “has abrogated responsibility” dictated by Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution when it comes to authorization. Politicians have indicated it’s “too politically sensitive” to “weigh in on deploying forces to fight and serve abroad.”

She worries about basing current U.S. military action on old information and what she sees as a clear lack of congressional oversight and engagement.

"Our military is the strongest fighting force the world has ever seen," Slotkin said in an email. "Congress has a solemn responsibility, as provided by the Constitution, to ensure that when our young men and women are ordered into harm’s way, it has done its duty to authorize an act of war.

"Unfortunately, since the Iraq War, we’ve seen little action on the part of our elected representatives to truly demand that authority, and to seek to update the authorization of military force (AUMF). Our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines serving in combat zones today are still largely operating under the 2001 AUMF, aimed at al-Qaida, because our Congress has backed away from their responsibilities.

"In Congress, I would serve as a vocal proponent for an update to the AUMF, and help bring back the appropriate checks and balances to a system that was designed to ensure that the American people have a voice when it comes to sending citizens to war."

As for Operation Faithful Patriot, the sending of troops to the Mexico border in response to the caravan of Central American migrants headed toward the U.S.?

“Based on my time at the Pentagon, you send forces out into the field based on a threat assessment and based on an assessment of need,” Slotkin said. “It seems to me hard to understand from the outside why we needed to send these numbers to the border. I acknowledge wholeheartedly that our immigration system is completely broken. This caravan is a symptom of a much bigger problem with our immigration system.”

She linked immigration to national security and explained her views during an Oct. 18 election forum in Livingston County that was cosponsored by the Howell, Brighton and Hartland chambers of commerce and local media.

"I think that immigration is a national security issue, it’s an economic issue, and it is a moral issue. And we need a comprehensive immigration plan, not whack-a-mole take a piece here, take a piece there," she said. "On national security issues, I have worked my entire career to prevent homeland attacks. We need to strengthen enforcement at the border with technology, with more border agents. That’s our first and primary responsibility to protect our homeland. But as an economic issue, there are reasons — deep reasons, for having immigrants come to this country.

"We need to key immigration to the economic needs that we have here with our farmers, we need people to come, to our fudge shops in Mackinac, if that’s what they need. We need to key it to what we need here. Let them come, let them go. Our dreamers, obviously, they were brought here as children, they need a path to citizenship, but we also have a moral responsibility as a nation of immigrants, to always keep our doors open to specific groups that are fearing death and persecution. That is our history."

Tears amid celebration

On Election Night, her father, Curt Slotkin, sat quietly with his arms folded. Tears streamed down his wife’s face. They were visibly worn out, having waited in a crowded room filled with balloons for more than five hours to learn their daughter had won an ugly fight that promised to get even uglier.

She had just been thanked from the podium at the Deer Lake Athletic Club for being a rock in the campaign.

Keith Slotkin said his parents, especially his father, had struggled in recent months. “He’s not from the internet age. He doesn’t handle haters," Keith said of his and Elissa's father. "The attack ads are personal. If you’re from an earlier generation, you just don’t have the hate.”

Hundreds of Democrats, Republicans and Independents attended the Slotkin party on Election Night. They included college students, retired military, engineers, business owners, doctors, bakers and child care workers.

These are uncertain times, said Brad Wisniewski, 61, of Clarkston, an engineer at General Motors who recently received a buyout offer as part of a plan to cut costs. He is concerned about future issues related to health care and the economy.

Slotkin won 50.6 percent of the vote to Bishop's 46.8 percent of 341,610 votes cast. He won with 56 percent of the vote in 2016 and nearly 55 percent in 2014. Bishop embraced the Trump agenda during his campaign.

Meanwhile, Slotkin spotlighted the experience of her mother, Judith, a breast cancer survivor who developed ovarian cancer. She lost health care coverage and struggled because of the pre-existing condition. She was hit with thousands of dollars in medical bills and died in 2011.

The victory of Elissa Slotkin left supporters who met her on the verge of tears.

“Oh, boy. It’s overwhelming,” said Dennis Ritter, 73, of Clarkston, as he took a deep breath and exhaled. “I met her 18 months ago. And she had me at hello. She’s just going to be a tremendous asset to our country."

Meet Elissa Slotkin

Age: 42Birthplace: New York; grew up in Oakland CountyMarried to: Dave Moore; they have two grown stepdaughtersResidence: HollyHigh School: Cranbrook Kingswood High School in Bloomfield HillsCollege: Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University; Certificate in Intensive Arabic, American University of Cairo; Master of International Affairs from Columbia UniversityCareer: Joined the Central Intelligence Agency as a political analyst in 2003. She has worked in the Department of Defense, U.S. State Department and White House for both George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Three tours in Iraq with the CIA. From 2012-17, she served as a principal adviser to the Secretary of Defense on U.S. policy related to the Middle East, Europe and NATO, Russia, Africa and the Western Hemisphere, with a focus on crisis management, planning, and negotiation.

Acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs from 2015-17, where she played a leading role in designing the counter-ISIS strategy. Chaired the U.S.-Russia channel on flight safety over Syria, the senior-most channel between the two governments. Participated in Pentagon press updates on violent terror groups.